Child proof container closure

ABSTRACT

A child proof container closure for use with threaded caps including a plastic cover having a configuration to closely overfit the cap and to be normally rotative with respect thereto. The plastic cover is provided with internal ridges and external serrations which cooperate to facilitate urging the cover internal ridges into tight engagement with the cap when the cover is squeezed so that the cap may be unscrewed by employing external squeezing pressures.

United States Patent Maguire July 1, 1975 CHILD PROOF CONTAINER CLOSURE3,679,085 7/1972 Gach 2l5/220 l t:Dl.M ,Bl BILP. [751 i or ame J agulfeue e a Primary Examiner-George T. Hall Asslgneei Closure Industries -1Brooklyn Attorney, Agent, or FirmWeiser, Stapler & Spivak [22] Filed:Apr. 16, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 351,963 A child proofcontainer closure for use with threaded caps including a plastic coverhaving a configuration to closely overfit the cap and to be normallyrotative i with respect thereto. The plastic cover is provided 58] 'g215/9 220 with internal ridges and external serrations which cooperateto facilitate urging the cover internal ridges [56] References Citedinto tight engagement with the cap when the cover is squeezed so thatthe cap may be unscrewed by em- UNITED STATES PATENTS ploying externalsqueezing pressures. 3,027.035 3/l962 Farago 2l5/9 3,468,444 9/1969Martin, Jr. 215 219 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures llllll lll Illwwwvwrnguu ms 3 3.892.325

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1 CHILD PROOF CONTAINER CLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The presentinvention relates generally to the field of container closures, and moreparticularly, is directed to a closure designed to prevent unintentionalopening of a container by a small child.

It has been found that many items commonly employed in the house can bedangerous to children, expecially extremely small children. Materialssuch as medicines, cleaning compounds, insecticides, and the like, whileuseful in the home, have on occasion proved dangerous when untentionallyopened by small children. Due to the inherent danger to children, thePoison Prevention Packaging Act of I970 (Public Law 9l60l) was enactedDec. 30, I970 to authorize the Commissioner of Food and Drugs topromulgate standards for special packaging to thereby protect children.

As a result of this authorization, the Department of Health, Educationand Welfare, Food and Drug Administration, published regulations forspecial packaging in the Federal Register, Vol. 36, No. I39, Page I335to establish standards for special packaging.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to achild proof closure suitable to meet the criteria established by Federalregulations under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970.

The present invention comprises a cover preferably fabricated of aresilient plastic material such as polyethylene plastic which issuitable for use with existing metallic or hard plastic screw caps tothereby render existing metallic or hard plastic screw capssubstantially child proof in accordance with the regulations establishedby the Food and Drug Administration.

The plastic cover includes a bottom, inwardly facing peripheral groovewhich is a sliding, rotary engagement with the bottom finish of aconventional metallic container closure cap. The cover is generallyhollow, cylindrical in configuration and includes a pair ofdiametrically opposed, interior projections which cooperate with theknurled outer surface of a conventional screw cap. The projections arespaced apart a sufficient distance to rotate about the knurled sectionof the metallic cap without engagement thereupon under normalconditions. By squeezing the exterior of the cover, the projections canbe squeezed into contact with the knurled section of the cap. Bysimultaneously rotating and squeezing the cover with the projectionsengaged in the knurled section of the cap, the cap may be readilyremoved from the container nozzle in conventional manner. Should thecover be rotated, such as by a child, without simultaneously urging intoengagement with the knurled section, the container cap will not rotaterelative to its nozzle and therefore, the container will not open.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved, child proof container closure of the type set forth.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel childproof container closure which includes a plastic cover which is rotativerelative to a metallic closure cap.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel childproof container closure for use with a conventional screw cap whichincorporates an in wardly opening peripheral groove which is of size toreceive and be rotative relative to the bottom finish of the cap.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel childproof container closure fabricated of polyethylene plastic which isnormally rotative relative to an associated metallic cap and which maybe squeezed to engage the metallic cap to rotatively separate the capfrom its associated nozzle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel childproof container closure suitable for use with a metallic containerclosure cap which incorporates a cover which rotates relative to the capwithout engaging the cap and further includes means to engage the capfor cap rotative purposes when the cover is peripherally squeezed.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel childproof container closure that is inexpensive in manufacture, simple inconstruction and trouble free when in use.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention will be had byreferring to the following description and claims of a preferredembodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswherein like reference characters refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views and in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevational view of acover in place upon a nozzle cap in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of the nozzle, cap and cover ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, side elevational view of a child proof containerclosure cover.

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of a cover taken along Line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along Line 55 of FIG. 1, lookingin the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along Line 6-6 of FIG. 1, lookingin the direction of the arrows and showing the cover in the unsqueezedposition.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 and showing the covei"- in thesqueezed position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Althoughspecific terms are used in the following description for the sake ofclarity, these terms are intended to refer only to the particularstructure of my invention, selected for illustration in the drawings andare not intended to define or limit the scope of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, I show in FIG. 1 a container 10 whichterminates upwardly in a conventional nozzle 12 which is preferablyfabricated of metal and is threaded to receive a conventional, threaded,screw cap I4 in threaded engagement therewith. A resilient cover 16 ispreferably molded of polyethylene plastic and is fabricated to suitabledimensions and configuration to overfit the screw cap 14 and to berotative relative thereto.

As seen in FIG. 2, the container nozzle 12 is conventionally fabricatedto provide an external thread 18 which threadedly receives the cap 14thereon. The screw cap 14 is conventionally formed to provide acooperating intemal thread 20 which turns upon the nozzle externalthread 18 in the usual manner for container closure purposes. Ifdesired, the cap may be provided with internal gasketing material 22 toprevent leakage from the container when the cap 14 is fully turned uponthe nozzle 12. The cap bottom edge 24 is downwardly finished in aperipheral, outwardly projecting lip 26 which serves the dual purpose ofproviding a smooth, finished edge for the cap 14 and also for providinga convenient means for rotatively, sliding engaging the cover 16 in themanner hereinafter more fully set forth. The outer periphery of the capsidewall 28 is knurled or otherwise roughened near the top 40 inconventional manner such as by inwardly pressing a plurality ofperipherally spaced grooves to provide an upper, peripheral knurledsection 30. The knurled section 30 serves to provide a convenient areawhich may be grasped by the fingers (not shown) of the user to bothtighten and loosen the cap 14 relative to the threaded nozzle 12.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cover 16 is fabricated to a generallyhollow, cylindrical configuration having an open bottom 32 and apartially closed top. The cover sidewall 34 extends from the open bottom32 to the partially closed top 36. The top preferably is inte grallymolded with the sidewall 34 to an annular configuration defining acentral opening 38 therein. The screw cap top 40 is visible through theopening 38 so that it is relatively easy to determine whether or not thecap 14 rotates when the cover 16 is turned.

lmmediately adjacent the partially closed top 36 of the cover andextending downwardly therefrom, a pair of diametrically opposedprojections 42, 44 are integrally molded or otherwise formed with thesidewall 34 to project inwardly into the interior space 46 which isdefined by the sidewall 34. The diametrical distance between theprojections 42, 44 is normally slightly greater than the greatestdiametrical distance across the cap 14 at the knurled section 30 thereofso that the cover 16 may be turned relative to the cap 14 without theprojections 42, 44 engaging upon the knurled section 30. lf desired,portions of the exterior periphery of the sidewall 34 can be knurled orotherwise roughened adjacent the projections 42, 44 to formdiametrically opposed grasping areas 48, 50 to provide a convenientplace for grasping and turning the cover 16 in the manner hereinaftermore fully set forth. An inwardly opening peripheral groove 52 is formedin the cover sidewall 34 immediately adjacent the open bottom 32thereof. The groove 52 is sized to overfit the projecting lip 26 of thescrew cap 14 and to be in rotary, sliding engagement therewith. Thegroove 52 serves to retain the cover 16 in rotary engagement over thecap 14. See FIG. 5.

In order to use the invention, the screw cap 14 is conventionallythreadedly engaged over the nozzle 12 and tightened to retain thecontents (not shown) within the container 10 as in FIG. 1. The cover 16is then applied over the cap 14 until the projecting lip 26 of the capis peripherally engaged within the groove 52 of the cover 16 so that theparts assume the relationship as illus trated in FIG. 5. With noexternal forces applied inwardly upon the cover 16, the projections 42,44 ride over the surface of the knurled section 30 of the screw cap 14.As illustrated in FIG. 6, in the unstressed condition, the cover 16 isfree to turn in the direction of the arrow 54 without causing anyturning forces to be applied to the screw cap 14. Thus, should a childattempt to open the container 10 by turning the cover 16, the cover 16will turn relative to the screw cap 14, but the screw cap 14 will remaintightly sealed against the container nozzle 12 so that the contents cannot become available to the child. The interaction of the screw cap lip26 within the cover peripheral groove 52 prevents the cover 16 frombeing removed from the cap 14, but still permits rotative movement ofthe cover relative to the cap.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, when the fingers (not shown) of the user areapplied externally to the diametrically opposed grasping areas 48, andradially inwardly directed squeezing forces are imposed, the resilientmaterial of the cover 16 will yield and press the projections 42, 44inwardly until they engage upon the knurled section 30 of the screw cap14. By simultaneously applying diametrically opposed, radially inwardforces upon the cover 16, such as by squeezing with the fingers, and byrotating the cover 16 in the direction indicated by the arrow 56, theprojections 42, 44 will be engaged upon the knurled section 30 of thecap 14 to thereby cause the cap 14 to simultaneously turn with the coverin the direction of the arrow 58.

Thus it is seen that two conscious motions on the part of the user arenecessary to operate the closure of the present invention. First, thecover 16 must be squeezed inwardly with sufficient force to cause thecover material to deform until the projections 42, 44 tightly engageupon the knurled section 30 of the cap. Then a second motion, namely arotative motion in the correct direction must be applied to causesimultaneous rotations of both the cover 16 and the cap 14, to unscrewthe cap 14 relative to the nozzle 12 to thereby gain access to thecontainer contents. If either the rotative forces or the radially inwardsqueezing forces are relaxed prior to complete separation, the cap 14will not turn relative to the nozzle and will remain in place to preventaccess to the container contents.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that l have shown aninexpensive, uncomplicated and relatively simple method of providing achild proof container closure which requires both peripherally appliedrotative and inwardly directed squeezing forces to be simultaneouslycontinuously imposed in order to remove a container cap from thecontainer nozzle. These forces can be readily applied by adults andolder children with very little instruction. However, so far as youngchildren are concerned, without additional instruction, the very classof persons desired to be protected will find the closure too complicatedfor easy opening and therefore will be protected from unintentionalexposure to the container contents.

Although I have described the present invention with reference to theparticular embodiments herein set forth, it is understood that thepresent disclosure has been made only by way of example and thatnumerous changes in the details of construction may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, thescope of the invention should not be limited by the foregoingspecification, but rather only by the scope of the claims appendedhereto.

I claim:

1. In a child proof container closure, the combination of A. a capthreadedly engaged upon the container,

1. said cap including a generally cylindrical sidewall,

6 2. said sidewall terminating downwardly in a peposed pair ofprojections extending inwardly ripheral lip and upwardly in a cap top,from the cover sidewall, a. said lip projecting outwardly beyond thepea. the projections defining a diametrical distance riphery of the saidsidewall. therebetween that is normally slightly greater a Portion ofthe sidewall the p being 5 than the diametrical distance across the capat knurled continuously about the periphery for the knurled portionthereof whereby the cover jfE Purposes; may be turned relative to thecap without the cover oferfimng the y projections engaging upon theknurled section, 1. the said cover being normally rotative relative tothe projections being positioned in the cover sidewall adjacent the saidcover top and ex- 2. said cover including a generally cylindricalsldetending downwardly herd-mm,

wall, the cover sidewall terminating downwardly c the projectionsradially outwardly overlying at in an open bottom and upwardly in acover top; C. cap engaging means provided in the cover to hold the coverin rotative association with the cap, l. the cap engaging means beingformed in the cover sidewall,

2. the cap engaging means including an inwardly open peripheral groove,a. the said groove being outwardly closed by a peripheral groove bottom,

3. the groove receiving the peripheral lip therein,

4. the groove being of sufficient diameter to overfit and receivetherein the cap lip in a rotary sliding engagement, said cap and saidcover having no least part of the knurled portion of the cover to engagetherein for cover turning purposes,

2. said gripping means including diametrically opposed grasping areasprovided in the exterior of the cover,

a. each grasping area being in radial alignment with a projectionwherein the application of radially inwardly directed forces upon thecover at the grasping areas causes the cover sidewalls to deform untilthe projections engage any portion of the knurled portion of the cap.

2. The child proof container closure in accordance relative a i l m v thb d with claim 1 wherein the cap is fabricated of non- D. gripping meansformed in the cover to grip the resilient ateria knurled portion of thecap upon the application of 3. The child proof container closure inaccordance radially inwardly directed forces upon the cover, with claim2 wherein the cap is fabricated of metal. l.said gripping meansincludingadiametrically op-

1. In a child proof container closure, the combination of A. a capthreadedly engaged upon the container,
 1. said cap including a generallycylindrical sidewall,
 2. said sidewall terminating downwardly in aperipheral lip and upwardly in a cap top, a. said lip projectingoutwardly beyond the periphery of the said sidewall,
 3. a portion of thesidewall near the top being knurled continuously about the periphery forturning purposes; B. a resilient cover overfitting the cap,
 1. the saidcover being normally rotative relative to the cap,
 2. said coverincluding a generally cylindrical sidewall, the cover sidewallterminating downwardly in an open bottom and upwardly in a cover top; C.cap engaging means provided in the cover to hold the cover in rotativeassociation with the cap,
 1. the cap engaging means being formed in thecover sidewall,
 2. the cap engaging means including an inwardly openperipheral groove, a. the said groove being outwardly closed by aperipheral groove bottom,
 3. the groove receiving the peripheral liptherein,
 4. the groove being of sufficient diameter to overfit andreceive therein the cap lip in a rotary sliding engagement, said cap andsaid cover having no relative axial movement therebetween; and D.gripping means formed in the cover to grip the knurled portion of thecap upon the application of radially inwardly directed forces upon thecover,
 1. said gripping means including a diametrically opposed pair ofprojections extending inwardly from the cover sidewall, a. theprojections defining a diametrical distance therebetween that isnormally slightly greater than the diametrical distance across the capat the knurled portion thereof whereby the coveR may be turned relativeto the cap without the projections engaging upon the knurled section, b.the projections being positioned in the cover sidewall adjacent the saidcover top and extending downwardly therefrom, c. the projectionsradially outwardly overlying at least part of the knurled portion of thecover to engage therein for cover turning purposes,
 2. said grippingmeans including diametrically opposed grasping areas provided in theexterior of the cover, a. each grasping area being in radial alignmentwith a projection wherein the application of radially inwardly directedforces upon the cover at the grasping areas causes the cover sidewallsto deform until the projections engage any portion of the knurledportion of the cap.
 2. said gripping means including diametricallyopposed grasping areas provided in the exterior of the cover, a. eachgrasping area being in radial alignment with a projection wherein theapplication of radially inwardly directed forces upon the cover at thegrasping areas causes the cover sidewalls to deform until theprojections engage any portion of the knurled portion of the cap. 2.said cover including a generally cylindrical sidewall, the coversidewall terminating downwardly in an open bottom and upwardly in acover top; C. cap engaging means provided in the cover to hold the coverin rotative association with the cap,
 2. the cap engaging meansincluding an inwardly open peripheral groove, a. the said groove beingoutwardly closed by a peripheral groove bottom,
 2. said sidewallterminating downwardly in a peripheral lip and upwardly in a cap top, a.said lip projecting outwardly beyond the periphery of the said sidewall,2. The child proof container closure in accordance with claim 1 whereinthe cap is fabricated of non-resilient material.
 3. The child proofcontainer closure in accordance with claim 2 wherein the cap isfabricated of metal.
 3. a portion of the sidewall near the top beingknurled continuously about the periphery for turning purposes; B. aresilient cover overfitting the cap,
 3. the groove receiving theperipheral lip therein,
 4. the groove being of sufficient diameter tooverfit and receive therein the cap lip in a rotary sliding engagement,said cap and said cover having no relative axial movement therebetween;and D. gripping means formed in the cover to grip the knurled portion ofthe cap upon the application of radially inwardly directed forces uponthe cover,